Large numbers turned up at Anzac parades throughout Hawke's Bay. Photo / Paul Taylor
It was heart-warming to see the great number of people who took the time to attend the services for Anzac Day.
My grandfather and uncles were proud Napier men who left for world wars. As a returned serviceman myself, I was moved by the turnout at the parades I attended and it led me to reflect on the opportunities serving my country gave me.
Given the positive effects serving had on my life, why not use it to effect positive changes in the attitudes of others?
We have a small minority of people in this country who simply are not interested in work unless it suits them. They don't want to pick fruit. They don't want seasonal work.
When I visited Affco in Wairoa during the campaign they said they were so short on the chain they were looking at getting in Filipino workers or shutting one down. This in a town with higher-than-average unemployment.
My dad worked the chain at the Tomoana works and back then it was considered good work.
To be clear, I'm not talking about people with a disability or those who are genuinely unable to work. They deserve our support. But for a minority, the habitually unemployed who feel no obligation to society for the social services it provides, they should be given the choice to either find work or have it presented to them.
One of the National Party policies for the 2017 election was a guarantee that those on the long-term jobseeker benefit (more than six months) would receive access to work experience, training or drug rehabilitation, with a one-on-one focus for each person.
However, those who refused any of those options would lose 50 per cent of their benefit. I thought that was more than fair.
Why not go further? Make one of the options military service. If you don't want to do seasonal work, if apple picking doesn't pay enough, well ... your other option is compulsory military service.
The military trains across a broad range of skills and professions. It instills pride, confidence, mana. It offers so many life experiences, financial security and lifetime friendships.
New Zealand already has a Limited Service Volunteer scheme. A six-week programme run by the NZDF to increase job prospects and confidence for young people.
The Left rail against such schemes. You can't force people into work, let alone the military! And yet Scandinavian countries, often held up by liberals as paragons of caring societies, have compulsory military service. Sweden is re-introducing conscription this year, while Norway became the first NATO country to introduce compulsory military service for both men and women.
Besides, you wouldn't be forcing them to join. They are more than welcome to find other forms of employment, go into university perhaps (I hear it's free now), but they should not be allowed to take desperately needed money from society that could be spent on those more deserving.
The recent showdown with the Napier City Council over the War Memorial, and the large numbers that turned up at Anzac parades throughout Hawke's Bay prove there is a deep depth of respect for those who have put on the uniform to serve their country.
What a difference it would be if those who currently feel disconnected from their communities got to experience the thanks, the respect and the pride that comes from serving this great country of ours.
Imagine going from someone who had faced the scorn of society, to a person who has a day of celebration reserved for them and their forebears. A just reward for stepping up and proving their worth.
David Elliott served in the RNZAF from 1991-2002, including duty in Bougainville and East Timor with No 3 Sqn RNZAF. He was the National Party candidate for Napier in the 2017 election.
*Views expressed here are the writer's opinion and not the newspaper's. Email: editor@hbtoday.co.nz